After our clothes got dry, we then decided to make our way deeper into the dungeon as we hoped the Book didn’t lead us to a dead end, but something didn’t feel right. Old Man Linus was busy murmuring something to himself, and Miss Lionheart was still shivering from the cold. Miss Dola was unusually quiet, but she still wore a bubbly smile on her face and Sullivan was complaining about the situation (well, at least he’s still the same).

We were all sort of in our own world, and everyone seemed to even stop caring about finding the teleportation device it seemed. If we continue like this, we’ll never find it. I gotta do something to get them back on track!

“Miss Lionheart,” I turned my attention to her, “could you check the Book again? We’re approaching a fork on the road.”

“Brr… O-Oh, sure!” She flipped through the page with a shiver, “S-Says here we s-should go right.”

“I wonder if we’ll make it out of here…” the Old Man suddenly pondered a grim question.

“What the hell? Of course we’ll make it out!” Sullivan said, “Don’t start getting pessimistic all of a sudden, once we find the teleportation device we’ll use it to go straight back to Melgam, then we can all go our separate ways!”

As we babbled a bit more amongst ourselves, the two girls suddenly ran ahead in joy. We didn’t really understand what it is they found that made them so ecstatic, as the only thing we saw was a dead end with some firewood in the middle.

“Fire! Fire! Warm!” Miss Dola finally raised her voice as she danced around the firewood, with Miss Lionheart lighting it aflame.

Certainly, a fire’s good, but where’s the entrance to the next floor? I knew the Book was a fake!

“Just like the Book said!” Miss Lionheart suddenly jeered at me as she lit the fire, “If we went right, we’d find a fire, and would you look at that!”

I was furious, but Old Man Linus interrupted me and started angrily screaming at the girls. “You idiots! Who cares about a stupid fire?! We need to find the next floor, and you’re telling me you knowingly lead us away from it?!”

“Oh, shut up, you old bag of bones!” Miss Lionheart shot back, “Who cares about you! The Book says you’ll die soon anyways!”

“What!?” The Old Man was taken aback by the woman’s sudden words.

“Uh-huh!” She reaffirmed her prediction, “Sullivan and me too!”

“What!?” Sullivan whimpered in shock, “I can’t die just yet! You’re just messing with us, aren’t you? It’s not funny!”

“Is there anything about me?” I asked out of curiosity, but I was honestly quite worried, since having my teammates die would probably spell the same fate for me.

“Let’s see…” she flipped through my chapters, “Uhhh, meets a lifelong friend, nah not that, happily married to- nope not that either, AH!” she suddenly raised her voice in a sadistic kind of joy as if she found the thing she was looking for.

“Loses a body part! Marital issues! His machinations lead to his untimely demise! Ahahahahah! All these horrible things happen to you as well! Honestly, it’d be better if you died here!” She happily smiled.

“What the hell is wrong with you?” I raised my voice to match hers, “Did you finally go insane after all this time with the Book?”

“Shut up, Lune!” Sullivan surprised me as he grabbed my shoulder, “At least you get to live!”

I wanted to return the harsh words back at him, but I noticed his facial expression go from that of anger to abrupt sorrow. He was crying-no, rather tearing up. I have no idea how it must feel to be told your death is very near, but I imagine I’d act the same way they are…

“… It’s cold…” I finally said as I lowered my fists, deciding to just shut up for now.

“Yeah! Cold no good!” Miss Dola suddenly said, surprising us.

Huh? Wait… Why such a primitive way of talking? She’s been acting weird for a while now…

“Marina?” Sullivan raised an eyebrow while examining her, “I’ve been meaning to ask, but you’ve been acting weird ever since you got back from searching for the mysterious artifact.”

“Marina ate artifact!” She proudly proclaimed, “Artifact tasty! Relieved all stress!”

“What?!” We looked at her in shock.

“Mhm!” She bounced her head as if to affirm her statement, “Marina feels good! Really good, like I have nothing to worry about!”

Sullivan quickly huddled us away from Miss Dola, “What the hell is she talking about?”

“Miss Lionheart, read from the Book what happened to Miss Dola!” I said whilst hurrying her.

She fumbled around the pages for a while, before finally making it to the page where Miss Dola started acting weird.

“After the protagonist dispatched Marina to the West side of the vast room, Marina found what looked to be a Golden Apple. Not thinking too much about the ramifications of eating it, she partook and had all of her common sense wiped from her mind. Marina is now relieved of all stress, but at the cost of her sanity. She is as harmless and defenseless as a mere child.”

***

“Why is everyone so sad?” Miss Dola asked ignorantly, “Did Marina do bad?”

“No, dear…” Miss Lionheart quickly replied, “It’s just… we’re a bit confused is all.”

“R-Right,” Linus added onto Miss Lionheart’s response, “don’t worry about it, kiddo, just play around the room a bit while we adults figure things out.”

“So we’re just gonna treat her like we would a lost child?” Sullivan started yelling at these two, “Have you guys gone mental yourselves?”

“Maybe she’ll be back to normal if we make her throw the Apple up?” I suggested.

“Nooooo!” Miss Dola overheard the conversation, “I don’t wanna barf anything out! Gross!”

“Sweetie, just stay out of it.” Miss Lionheart said while holding back tears.

We suggested one idea after another, but none seemed to work. We finally decided to just leave the matter alone for now and just make it out of here alive. After walking around the hallways some more, we reached what appeared to be a dead end, but something didn’t feel right. There was no other alternative path we could take after fixing our route, so why is this dead end here? And there doesn’t seem to be a switch or a lever anywhere around here. It genuinely feels like we made a wrong turn somewhere, but how?

“Consult the Book.” Linus said seriously.

“Right, ahem:” Miss Lionheart flipped the pages, “Huh?!?” She gasped with a flushed expression.

“What?” We leaned in to ask, “What does it say??”

“Th-The man with a grim heart must engage in intercourse w-with one of the female adventurers in order to make it to the next room…”

Wuzzat now?

“Phahahahaha!” Sullivan started banging the walls as he laughed out loud, “First you live, now you get to mingle with the girls? Talk about lucky!”

“What the hell are you talking about?” I asked.

“Lune… choose who you want…” Miss Lionheart grabbed onto Miss Dola’s shoulders.

“Miss Lionheart, it’s quite alright…” Linus said to her calmly, “The young girl is already unaware of what’s happening. Just use her as a scape goat.”

Just as he said what he said, they grabbed both me and Miss Dola, before forcefully trying to remove our coats. I was now 100% sure these fuckwads lost their minds! What the hell are they trying to make us do?

I finally figured it out as I remembered Aaron’s lectures from back in Blue Lions. This is… that. The thing you do with a girl… WAIT, THEY’RE FORCING US TO DO IT?!?

“GUYS, STOP!” I tried shaking them off, but to no avail, “NEITHER ME NOR MISS DOLA CONSENT TO THIS! HEY!”

“Marina doesn’t mind!” Miss Dola happily raised her hands, “If Marina can be of help to you guys, I don’t mind doing whatever it is you guys want!”

“See, Lune?” Linus looked me dead in the eyes, “It’s completely normal, and the Book tells us to do so. Oh, don’t mind this, it’s just precautionary…” He said as he tied my body up.

“No! Miss Dola, you don’t understand! This isn’t something we should be doing! Run away!” I screamed out as much as I could before getting hit on the head by Sullivan.

“Shut it. Just accept this lucky situation you found yourself in and stop complaining.” He scoffed at me.

“You disgusting subhuman piece of shit!” I hissed at him, “Listen, the Book is a lie! Look where it’s predictions led us! You’ve gone crazy from listening to it!”

“Shut up!” Miss Lionheart slapped me, “We made a pact!”

Just like that, both of us were undressed and told what to do, with Miss Lionheart instructing Miss Dola. I couldn’t make sense of this situation at all, it’s just too crazy for me to fathom! I don’t wanna lose my virginity like this! She’s mentally a child! Fuck!

“Come here, Lune...” The girl clad in nothing approached me with as much innocent charm as she could muster. Her body was seductive in a way, as it was quite well developed (she was bodily an adult after all), but I can’t do this! I’m saving myself for Cecily! Aren’t we too young to be doing this?! I… I gotta…!

“Sniff, sniff, do you guys smell smoke?” Sullivan suddenly raised a concern.

“Owie!” Miss Dola jumped back, “Lune, you trickster, no fire!”

“Fire?” The other party members looked at the scorched rope that fell to the floor.

I didn’t wanna use it, but Spark was my only way out… I don’t wanna do this anymore! I gotta run away from these sickos!

I ran and ran, without even stopping to catch my breath. I was naked, freezing, and weaponless. If any creature appeared behind a corner, I’d have no way to survive the interaction. But the Book mentioned I’d live to at least get married… Wait, listening to the Book made these guys go crazy in the first place! What do I do? Who do I trust? Am I going crazy myself?

This entire trip has been slowly chipping away at my sanity, but this… this is the first time I feel there is no light at the end of the tunnel. I… I just wanna go back home…

I ran out of stamina, and I was freezing. Maybe just doing it is the right thing to do? Well, if they find me and bring me back, I’ll just accept my fate. But for now, I’ll catch my breath…